A Kinder Roll of Fate
by TheOddCatLady95
Summary: What if no one actually got hurt in the season three finale? What if it all was just a game? Crossposted from ArchiveofOurOwn.
1. The Beginning

_"Do you believe in destiny?"_

 _"Yes."_

"… Rolled an eighteen. All right. Cinder draws back her bow, and shoots Pyrrha in the chest. Pyrrha is dead."

"Whaaaaaaaaat!?"

Ruby gaped in shock. "No way! You seriously didn't! She… she can't be dead!"

For probably the fifth time in just as many minutes, Cinder rubbed her temple to ease her headache. "She's out of aura. The enemy rolled high, and then she shot Pyrrha, point blank, in the chest. She's _gone_."

"So… I'm done playing?" Pyrrha picked up her little figurine and sighed. "I went through so many adventures though… it's a little sad to be all done."

Cinder nodded. "That's correct. Can we get back into the game, now? Ruby did make it to the top of the tower after all, we need to see her-

A chair scraped on the ground and one of the players stood in time to interrupt Cinder. "I vote we redo these last three games, as this is clearly _prejudice_ against redheads!"

You could see Cinder mentally count to ten behind her eyes. "Roman. You weren't supposed to be involved in this campaign anyway. You rolled lower than the Griffon, and it ate your character. And no one is crying over that. Sorry Neo."

The tiny brunette just clung tighter to her boyfriend in horror. Roman just sat down with a very upset 'hmph'. "You also killed Penny."

"For the last time, _**Emerald killed Penny**_."

"She's not here right now to answer for actions you told her to do!"

"Guys, guys." Blake raised a hand. "We probably should finish up the scene with Ruby and Cinder… before I bleed out with Yang next to me."

Yang gives Blake a shifty look. "What's your character going to doooo?"

Blake only looked away innocently. "… Nothing… You'll find out when it's my turn again…. Probably..."

Cinder cleared her throat to regain control of the table. "All right. Back on campaign, _please_. Cinder touches Pyrrha and Pyrrha disintegrates."

" _Cold_. Are you going to kill me next?!"

Cinder gave Nora a scathing look, the only surviving redhead at the table. Nora just threw up her hands. "It's a natural question!"

"Ruby. Your turn."

Ruby thought for a few seconds before she grabbed her dice. "I'm going to unleash that one really cool special you said I could have!"

"You do realize you have to roll-"

"I know. But I just saw one of my best friends get murdered, so yeah, totally makes sense."

The dice rattled across the table.

"… I GOT A TWENTY!"

Ruby squealed with excitement as she vaulted from her chair and almost touched the ceiling. Her landing wasn't as successful though, she ended up landing partway on her chair and crashing to the floor. Jaune got caught up in the excitement and Pyrrha up, twirling her around the room while she laughed. Nora copied the movement with Ren, who had almost fallen asleep since his character was unconscious, he wasn't exactly laughing as much as he was mute in terror. Roman gave double thumbs up to Ruby while Neo held her up white board which read '10/10'. Yang whooped and gave high fives to Blake and Weiss. "That's my sister! Ah yeah, kill the bitch! Sorry Cinder."

Cinder just sighed. "Sit down, guys, you're going to wake up the other housemates. All right. The world erupts in a white flash, and everyone on the top of the tower is frozen eternally, including the dragon… and just like that, once again, you've derailed my campaign."

Those originally celebrating instantly calmed down to give the girl in the oversized red hoodie a dirty look. Ruby just giggled nervously and sat on her chair. "Oopsie."

"Haven't you learned to deal with Red's derailments yet?" Roman groaned, leaning back in his chair.

Cinder just looked at Roman. "… If you're talking about Ruby Rose, no. I've been running _Remnant_ campaigns since middle school, and I've never had someone run campaigns off the rails like her."

"It's cuz I'm special. Like my character." Ruby wasn't deterred. "This doesn't mean the campaign is over though, right?"

Cinder shook her head, her old smirk returning. "No. I'm already thinking of ways to change course. Give me a week or two to rework some things."

"You're such a _princess_." Roman said with a snort. Although it didn't appear Cinder even moved, Roman's chair toppled over, causing him to smack his head against the wall with a definite 'smack'.

Pyrrha sat back down in her chair and sighed. "I'll still be allowed to come around for campaigns, correct? I'd like to watch even if I no longer play."

"We let the human Jack o' Lantern come back, didn't we?" Yang nodded. "Hey, maybe Cinder will let us, we can have some sort of ghost-y advice from the person who could've been the Fall Maiden if _someone_ had actually rolled their perception check."

Jaune looked like someone smacked him with a board. "Hey! I just forgot!"

"You… were trying to keep watch…" Pyrrha looked slightly bashful. Jaune just groaned and face planted against the table.

"Knowing Cinder, you probably just would've gotten like, multiple personalities…"


	2. Game Night

**Salutations! Or hello, whatever. My name is Kitty, and I'll be your fanfic writer for... however the hell long you want to follow me. Glad that the first chapter got such a good response, but just a heads up, these stories will not be in any particular order. This takes place far before the first chapter. Thanks for reading!**

* * *

"Come on Rubes! I don't wanna be late!"

Suddenly Ruby was having second thoughts on joining Yang's game night.

Ruby pulled her far too large hood over her head. "I, uh, think I've changed my mind! I'm feeling _reeeaally_ sick." She fake coughed into her hand a few times to sell the bit. "How about I go next week?"

Yang sighed and shook her head. "No way. Dad wants you to make _friends_. You know, other human beings to speak to on a regular basis?"

Okay, Plan B. "You caught me. I didn't do my character sheet." Ruby laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck. "I guess I'll have to wait-"

A loud voice cleared their voice and Ruby slowly turned around. Ah, Uncle Qrow. He lifted up a few pieces of paper that had a clip around them. "Funny. Because this looks like a character sheet to me. And I think that's your name right there, isn't it?" He pointed at the name written in red ink, with a little rose doodled at the end.

Well, there went Plan B. Where was Zwei so she could get on with Plan C?! Ruby looked around before she felt her Uncle's hand on her shoulder.

"You don't have to go, kid. But I know you'll love it if you do."

Darn. He was always right. Ruby sighed and pulled her hood back down. "Okay, I'll go, I'll go. Don't miss us too much!" She gave her Uncle one last hug before she bolted out the door, Yang chasing after her to make sure she didn't go the wrong way.

Qrow just shook his head. Kids. Then again, he was pretty sure TaiYang still had all their character sheets buried in the back of the closet…

"So who's gonna be there?"

Yang tapped her chin. "Pyrrha, Nora and Ren for sure. Think some guy named Jaune's coming, haven't really played with him before."

Ruby bobbed her head up and down, kicking a stone along the pavement. "You think they'll like my character?"

"Who wouldn't? _You_ made her, and people are definitely going to like you! They'll think you're the bee's knees!" Ruby was about to object to this idea when Yang skidded to a stop. "We're here!"

Wow. This was pretty nice for a college student's place. Ruby stopped to gape for a few seconds. Yang pulled her out of her standstill by grabbing the shorter teen's arm and pulling her towards the door. "Come on!" Yang half dragged Ruby up the apartment steps and without knocking, threw open the door. "Guess who's ready for a round of _Remnant_?!"

The door stopped short as it slammed against something that was _certainly_ not the wall, as walls do not make screams of pain. Ruby cringed.

"Uh, Yang? I… think you hit someone."

Yang peered slowly behind the door. A teenage boy with thick blond hair had a hand over the lower half of his face, attempting to stop the flow of blood coming from his nose. "… Oh. Wow, that is a _lot_ of blood. Don't get any on the floor, Cinder will kill you. And me. But you first."

"Good to know." The boy mumbled nasally.

Ruby stepped into the apartment, looking around at her surroundings before digging in her pockets. "Been there, done that. Here's a tissue." She pulled out a tissue and the bleeding blond took it gratefully.

"I'm Jaune. Sorry for stealing your tissue."

"Ruby. No biggie, you'd do the same for me, I hope." This was the other new guy! Friendships could be made on the grounds they both seemed to be socially awkward!

Someone cleared their throat and Ruby looked behind Yang. A girl with pure white hair peered out from behind Yang. "Is this the right address for a _Remnant_ meeting?"

Yang looked behind her and perked up. "Oh hey! You came to the right place, errr..."

"Weiss. Weiss Schnee." The girl stepped inside, raising an eyebrow at Jaune holding a red stained kleenex to his nose. "What happened to you?"

Jaune raised his free hand. "I'm fine. Just got hit with the door."

"I see." Weiss looked slightly befuddled at this announcement when a girl with bright orange hair peered out from the living room.

"Come oooon, quit chatting and get in here! We have so much to do, I wanna see all your characters, ooooh, Yang is that your little sister, Ruby? She's so cute, is she shorter than me? No wait, I'm still shorter. Darn! At least I'm taller than Neo, but like _everyone_ is taller than Neo! Well, what are you waiting for, get over here!"

That. Must be Nora. Yang had brought up a girl who didn't know the meaning of silence. At least she was nice too?

Ruby got herded in with everyone else walking into the dining room. Nora was now sitting next to a guy that Ruby assumed was probably Ren, as Nora was babbling his ear off and he'd not respond, just occasionally nod.

And the woman at the head of the table was Cinder.

The Game Master.

All right, Ruby was now intimidated. Yang had mentioned that Cinder seemed scary but was nice… sometimes. When she felt like it. And that wasn't very often. Cruel GMs made the game harder but occasionally made it even better. And Cinder was one of the best.

"You must be Ruby."

Oh crap she was speaking to her. "Uh- yup! That's me! Ruby!" Was her voice normally this squeaky?

A few seconds of awkward standing before Ruby realized there was a chair right next to where Yang had sat down. Safety! She bolted to that chair and immediately sat down. On her other side was Weiss, who seemed to be focused on her character sheet. Ruby looked it over, huh, also focus on the speed stats, that was cool-

"If you don't _mind_ , can you stop reading over my shoulder?"

… More awkward. Ruby slunk down in her chair and pulled her hood over her head. Why was everyone so naturally terrifying?

The doorbell rang and Jaune almost got up to get it but Cinder raised her hand. "I saw Neo already heading that way. She'll answer it." Sure enough, two more girls walked in, one with long red hair tied back into a ponytail and the other with long dark hair and a bow.

"Pyrrha, Blake." Cinder nodded at them both. Pyrrha actually waved back while Blake just took the nearest open seat. Cinder briefly glanced at her phone before she spoke again. "Well, that's all of us. This is the start of a new campaign, a few of you haven't been here before, and we have at least one beginner to Remnant entirely." Cinder looked up at Ruby, who just slunk down more in her chair. _No attention on me please._

"So, might as well introduce our characters. Ruby?"

Curses! Her hood wasn't not one of invisibility! Ruby nervously sat up and gave a quick wave. "Uh… Hi." So many eyes on her. So many. "My character is Ruby Rose, her weapon is a scythe-sniper rifle combo, and her semblance is speed… she's a happy and loyal character, but she takes a while to get used to people. Her weakness is difficulty working with others, and her secret? Uh, I don't have that down yet." She had to force herself to look around the table. Jaune looked, by far, the most interested… but no one looked irritated at least?

Cinder looked approving. "All right, Jaune… what's your character?"

"Uhhhhh..." Jaune scrambled through his bag to pull out a very wrinkled character sheet. Ruby tried to hide her giggles, at least she had her sheet out. "Uh, Jaune Arc, he uh… has a sword… he's a klutz, gets airsick, but he's… he's a good guy. Just doesn't think. Uh… I really didn't fill out semblance part… oh, maybe he doesn't know it?"

Now Cinder looked a tad annoyed. "He's your character, Jaune."

"Ohright."

Pyrrha smiled kindly and leaned over to whisper something into Jaune's ear. He immediately perked up. "Thanks, I'd really appreciate that!"

The redhead smiled before clearing her throat. "I might as well go next. My character I've used before, Pyrrha Nikos, she's a competitor but she is very caring about her friends and everyone around her. Her weapon is a spear that can also transition into a sword or a short sword. She also has a shield. Her weakness is that she wants to please people too much, risking herself to make everyone else happy. Her secret is her semblance, polarity, to give her an edge in her battles."

"Thank you, Pyrrha." Cinder glanced over to Blake. "Blake?"

It went around the table like that. Weiss' character had a rapier and was apparently an heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, Blake's character had a katana-pistol and apparently had a dark past, Nora's character had a giant hammer that turned into a _grenade launcher_ , the list went on. At least Ruby's scythe-rifle didn't seem over the top now…

 _"What are you **doing**?!"_

 _"Uh, uh… sorry…"_

 _"Sorry, do you have any idea the damage you could've caused?!"_

"Ohcrap, I'm gonna roll Charisma to talk myself out of this horrible, horrible situation... which I wouldn't be in if Yang didn't _abandon me_." Ruby gave Yang an angry look while she just grinned. Sisters. Never there when you needed them. "That… that's not high enough, is it?"

Yang looked over at the die and snorted. "I don't think at _any_ time, a one is a high enough roll."

Now Cinder's grin was looking rather evil. "No, no it was not. While Weiss scolds you for your carelessness, some of the dust in the air gets up your nose, and you sneeze, causing a small explosion."

Laughter exploded around the table, even the quiet Blake cracked a smile. Weiss just looked flabbergasted. "You caused an explosion. With a _sneeze_."

Ruby giggled innocently and rubbed the back of her neck. "Oopsie."

Finally, a smile crossed Weiss' face as well. "Okay, that is… a little funny. A little."

"Just because it didn't happen in the real world." Cinder cleared her throat. "Now Weiss, how is your reaction? You're mildly singed but not damaged."

"Right." Weiss cleared her throat before she jumped back into character… which she did almost scarily well.

 _"Unbelievable! This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!"_

 _"I'm really, **really** sorry…"_

 _"Ugh, you complete **dolt**!"_

It was odd that the tense meeting between Weiss' and Ruby's characters caused them to click much better in the real world. But Ruby wasn't complaining.

"I say today was a real success! I blew up Weiss, made friends with Blake, and next week we're gonna be sorted into teams!"

Ruby skipped out the door, in much higher spirits than when she exited it. Yang just shook her head as she followed. "And you didn't want to go at first."

"Lies. All lies."

Weiss followed them out. "I don't have to be home until ten, it's only nine. Hey, Ruby?"

Ruby skidded to a stop and turned around. "Yeah?"

"I think there's an ice cream place a few blocks away. I'll buy." She lifted up her debit card.

Ice cream. Truly the best of bait. Ruby gasped and looked at Yang. "I'll call home and tell them where we're going!"

Yang laughed. "I guess that means I'm coming along too."

"It won't be a problem." Weiss actually looked… pleasant. Considering how frosty she had been when she walked in, it was a complete turn around. "I didn't think this would be my thing, but once you really throw yourself into it, it gets really fun."

Ah, typical. "Yeah, you're really good at staying in character..." Yang trailed off when she saw Blake leave the house and start walking away. "… Hold on a sec. I think we should invite one more person."

"If it's Jaune, make sure his nose is done bleeding, I don't want-"

"Not Jaune." Yang took off after the girl in black. "Blake! Wait up!"

Blake stopped in her tracks and turned around. "Did I forget something?"

Yang skidded to a stop. "No, no you're good there. Me, Ruby and Weiss are going to hit up ice cream. I just wanted to know if you wanted to come along."

There was a short pause as Blake raised an eyebrow. "… Wait, seriously?"

"Of course seriously! Come on, I'll buy for you if you don't have the money." Yang smiled broadly. "You were super fun during the game, I want to get to know you."

Why was Blake so surprised about being invited? Meh, Yang would figure that out. Sooner or later. Blake finally ended up returning the smile.

"Sure. Why not, I don't need to be home for a while. Thanks, Yang."

Victory! Yang looped her arm in with Blake's and dragged her back down the sidewalk. "She's in. Ruby? We got permission?"

Ruby hung up and fist pumped. "Uncle Qrow gave the green light! Let's go have ice cream!"

Yang snickered. "Did you, I don't know, ask Dad? Or one of our moms?"

"Bah! I went for the answer we wanted to get. Come on guys! I'll race you all there!" Ruby took off like a bullet.

Yang sighed. "RUBY! WRONG WAY!"

"… I knew that!"

* * *

 **And now starts a beautiful friendship... and possibly one ship. *waves the Bumblebee flag now***

 **If you all want to keep updated on what I'm working on, follow my tumblr imburiedincats-sendhelp, I sometimes let you all know what's going on in my life ;D toodle oo! And a question for the day- how many of you have actually played a table top game? Let me know when you leave a comment!**


	3. Cinder's Housemates

_Sorry sis! Won't be there for another hour, Blake and I have major studying to do :P Just chill at Cinder's until we arrive for game night!_

Thanks a lot sis. Abandoning your baby sister to fates unknown.

Ruby pouted as she walked along the sidewalk, kicking along a stone. _Remnant_ was super fun, sure, but she hadn't gone to the house without Yang before. What if Cinder wasn't there? What was she suppose to do, chill on the front step until she answered the door?

 _Ding-dong!_

The door did creak open, but Ruby didn't see Cinder, in fact, she really didn't see anyone. Until she looked down.

A girl with brown curls looked back up. Her face was disorienting to look at, it took a few seconds to pin why- her eyes were different colors. One was pink, the other was brown. Kinda weird, but Ruby managed a smile.

"Uh… hi. I'm here for Remnant?"

The other girl perked up and opened the door the rest of the way. "Oh good." Ruby stepped inside and glanced around. "So um, where is everyone else?"

Reaching under her arm, the girl pulled out a small white board. She scribbled on it for a few seconds before she lifted it up for Ruby to read:

'You're the first to arrive! Cinder's still napping. I'm Neo.'

She dotted all her eyes with hearts, that was… kinda cute. Didn't Nora bring Neo up before? "Oh, okay. Um, can you talk?" Okay, that came out way more blunt then she had meant.

Neo shook her head no and scribbled another message. 'Mute. I carry the whiteboard around so I can communicate. I also use sign, but only Cinder and Roman can keep up.'

"Oh, cool! Er, not cool that you're mute, but like, cool that you use the whiteboard." Who the heck was Roman? Ruby was about to ask when a loud voice from the dining room interrupted her.

"Hey Neo! Can you bring me a drink from the fridge while you're up?"

Neo rolled her eyes and wrote another message. 'He knows I can't respond so I have to do it :P'

The girl skipped to the kitchen and opened the fridge, pulling out a dark orange bottle. She glanced up and motioned to the fridge. Ruby glanced inside to see a lot of bottles that probably had varying levels of alcohol. "Oh, uh, no thanks! I'm only fifteen."

Neo shrugged. The 'suit yourself' was implied. Then she pointed to the top of the fridge, where rested several sodas. "Oh, goodie!" A few jumps and Ruby had snagged a Coke. She followed Neo into the dining room where the yeller was.

Another college student, but with incredibly bright orange hair and with his feet on the table looked over. "Thanks, gorgeous. Well hey there, red. What's up, come for the game tonight?"

Ruby waved awkwardly. "Er, yup. I'm Ruby."

"Roman Torchwick, one of Cinder's _beeeest_ friends." He popped the top off his bottle and took a swig. "Well, maybe not best friend… maybe the biggest pain in her ass."

Okay, definitely more relaxed than Cinder. Ruby sat down and sipped her soda. "You don't seem _that_ bad."

Roman snickered. "You haven't seen me during the 'queen's' campaigns. Might end up hopping into yours sometime, for kicks. It'll make Cinder cranky."

Neo grinned proudly before she casually sat herself across Roman's lap. Roman responded by giving her a kiss on the cheek before looking back over at Ruby. "So, Red, how old are you?"

"Fifteen." Oh wow, that wall was _really_ interesting to stare at.

Roman looked amused at her awkwardness. "Awww, just a beginner then. Games don't run past your bedtime, do they?"

Oh haha. Ruby tore her eyes away from the wall to give him a dirty look. Roman just snickered and lifted the bottle to his lips.

"I thought I heard your voice- Roman, are you harassing Ruby?"

Cinder stepped down the stairs, shaking her head. Roman raised his hands as Neo slipped out of his lap and slipped behind her boyfriend, rubbing his shoulders. "Hey, look on the bright side. If I harass her, I can't harass you!"

"She's a kid, you cannot harass her. And she's _Yang's_ little sister."

That got Roman's attention. Clearing his throat, he sat up and pulled himself closer. "Soooo, can I see your character sheet?"

Oooh, something that Ruby was actually proud of! Ruby scooted the paper across the table. Roman picked it up and glanced it over. "Nice, nice… not bad, Red! _Way_ better than my first character sheet." He pushed it back over.

Ruby beamed. "Thanks! I had my parents to help me though, they've been playing since the first edition of Remnant."

"Nice advantage- say, if you're in the same campaign as Yang, and your character's fifteen, how did they make it into Beacon?" Roman had adopted a more innocent look now.

"Oh, uh..." Ruby bit her lip as she tried to remember the reason. "I think we decided that one of the teachers found me trying to stop a robbery, thought I was kinda impressive, let me come two years early?"

"Reeeaaaalllly." Now Roman was grinning roguishly. "Hey, do you know who my character is?"

Ruby shook her head no. Roman pulled his character sheet out of his pocket. Cinder groaned. "Oh. No. No, don't you think about it."

"Too late, thought about it."

Ruby read over the sheet before she grinned. "Oooooh… Cinder, please?"

"Absolutely not."

 _"Are you… robbing me?"_

 _"Yes!"_

 _"Ooooh..."_

"Yes! Twenty!"

Ruby fistpumped into the air as the dice showed her favorite number. Cinder looked pleased. "All right, the thug goes for you, but you..."

"Send him flying across the room! Cuz I'm totally _awesome_!" Ruby crossed her arms with pride.

"Okay, you send the thug flying across the room, and he hits a wall. He's now unconscious. Roman?"

Roman thought for a second. "Just send the thugs after her. They can handle it. I'm busy looking at the loot I've stolen."

 _"… Okay… well, get her!"_

 _"Well, Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening. And as much as I'd love to stick around, I'm afraid this is where we part ways."_

… "Oh come on! That should've hit!"

Cinder looked, once again, quite pleased. "Oh Roman, I think you've learned by now- the dice betray you whenever you need them most." Roman just glared at the traitorous dice that lay before him.

"Hey, you started without us?!"

Yang, Blake, and Weiss were standing at the door way. Yang had her hands on her hips and was looking on disapprovingly.

Ruby smiled and waved wildly. "Hi guys! We're just playing out how I totally kicked Roman's butt and how I earned my way into Beacon."

Neo raised her whiteboard. 'She really is kicking his butt. Roman didn't pay out for the GOOD thugs, apparently :/'

"You can't be against me too! That's not fair!" Roman complained. "First Cinder, then the dice, now my own girlfriend."

'It's not my fault you missed her firing from a few yards away...' It was amazing how fast Neo could write snarky comments back.

Cinder cleared her throat. "This will be done in a few minutes. Ruby, you managed to parry the blast, but Roman is nowhere to be seen. What do you do?"

"Perception check!" Ruby rolled the dice and tossed them. "Fourteen!"

Cinder nodding approvingly. "You almost miss him, but he's scaled a building."

"I'm gonna _chase_ him!"

"All right. You chase Roman up the building…"

"Roman's not such a bad guy!"

Yang chuckled. "He's okay. He's just scared of me because I beat him in arm wrestling."

Weiss looked slightly amused. "Why on earth were you arm wrestling him?"

"Loooong story, involving who was getting the last bowl of ice cream. Speaking of which who's up for more ice cream tonight?"

Ruby jumped into the air and waved her hands about wildly. "Me! Me! I'm up for ice cream!"

"I'm not buying this time." Weiss learned her lesson from how much ice cream Ruby could eat in a single sitting. It was terrifying.

Blake glanced at her wallet. "I just got paid, so I'm in."

"All right! To ice cream!"

"Gotta admit- the kid's not too bad."

Neo tapped his shoulder and quickly signed, 'She is very sweet. Be nice to her.'

Roman mock pouted. "Oh come on, when am I ever mean?" Neo started signing so fast not even Roman could keep up. "Whoa, I get your point. I'm a dick. The only time I'm gonna be mean to that kid is ingame. Her sister would murder me otherwise."

Neo looked pleased. 'Thank you, pumpkin.'

"Please don't call me that in front of the others. I think Red would _combust_ , did you see the look on her face when you sat in my lap?"

Even though it was silent, the laughter that came from Neo was far too cute for words.

* * *

 **Ah, Roman. Everyone's problematic fave. Well he's at least mine. And Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream is to DIE for. Remember, comments are what keep the writer's soul content, and the question of the day is: do you think Neo is all right after going all Mary Poppins off the side of the airship? Lemme know! And remember, you'll be able to see the updates a bit faster if you follow me at my tumblr, imburiedincats-sendhelp!**


	4. The Girl With The Pink Bow

"I'll take a strawberry cone."

"Blackberry."

"I'll have Peppermint, if it's available."

"Chocolate with marshmallows!"

Blake raised an eyebrow out of slight amusement at Ruby's choice. "Have you ever chosen the same thing twice?"

Ruby's only response was to grin broadly as Yang forked over the cash. Qrow had loaned them a few bucks for ice cream tonight, considering they had finished an epic side quest involving mutant Grimm. So. Cool.

That, of course, meant that everyone was there.

Cinder had already sat down with her Cherry Cone while Neo and Roman were going halfsies on a Neapolitan Banana Split. Team JNPR were still waiting for half their cones, Ren was already sipping a pink slushie while Nora was working on destroying a positively large Cotton Candy ice cream cone. Jaune was still waiting for his Cake Batter cone along with Pyrrha, who had apparently decided on Caramel Apple.

Bottom line- the poor two people working the ice cream place were swamped with orders.

Ruby bounced back to her seat, right next to Roman while Yang took the other side. Roman and Neo were currently mock sword fighting with their spoons. Cinder glanced up at them. "She's going to be bouncing off the walls all night, isn't she?" She asked Yang, pointing to Ruby's cone.

Yang snickered. "Don't worry, I'll make her race home. And then a few times around the block."

"Totally worth it." It was chocolate! Delicious, delicious chocolate with the heavenly blessing of marshmallows!

Weiss had ordered the mint, but instead had it in a bowl. She twirled the spoon between her fingers before taking a bite. "At least we're not the ones trapped with her." At that moment, Nora slid onto the remaining bench and nearly fell off, Ren catching her last second. "… Or her."

"Cotton candy and ice cream is the best. Combination. Ever! Whoever invented it should totally get a Nobel prize, they combined what is the best sweets ever-" Ren gently pushed Nora's hand towards her mouth and then Nora was distracted by the ice cream, once again.

Roman wiped some ice cream off the corner of Neo's mouth before looking up at Cinder. "So, Cin, you have a place for Neo to jump into the campaign?"

"It's in the works." Cinder worked in mysterious ways, and no one knew her plots until she wanted them to know. Much to the annoyance of Roman, who was by far the nosiest man that Ruby had ever met. Not saying they didn't along though. Roman had turned into the big brother she'd never had, even if he was a bit of a jerk sometimes.

"Heeelllllooo, looks like the ice cream parlor just got a bit better looking." Yang grinned and jerked her head in the direction of the parlor windows. Ruby glanced over… right. _Boys_. All of the girls minus Cinder had glanced over, and even Blake seemed a bit, well, blushy.

A blond guy with a shirt hanging completely open (it was a warm night, so it was unsurprising) and a taller thin one with blue hair were chilling at the pick up window. Ruby _supposed_ they were cute? Kinda? She had no reference for this.

Thankfully Cinder had kept her sanity, looking up for only a second before going back to her ice cream, unimpressed. "Oh. Sun and Neptune. Figured they'd be back in town soon."

"You know them!?" Weiss looked envious, it must be the taller guy with blue hair. Ruby had totally guessed her type.

Cinder shrugged. "They also play _Remnant_ , and I'm quite the extraordinary Game Master. Of course I've met them. They usually have Sage and Scarlet around too."

"Are you saying there's a team of pretty boys that play _Remnant_ and you haven't told us about them?" Yang looked heavily betrayed.

So did Jaune. "Uh, I'm here? And I'm… pretty?" Roman snorted and almost choked on his ice cream, causing the two boys to look over.

"Yo, Cinder!" The blond strutted over, Blake turning a bit red as he seemed to make room to sit by her. "How's things? Run any cool campaigns?"

"Sun." Cinder lowered her spoon, managing a pleasant smile. "You could say that. I'm having another game you could jump into next week, how would you and Neptune feel about that?"

Neptune looked a bit bummed as he leaned against the table. "I'm busy, I'll have to miss it! Bummer. Sun, go for me, I think they'll need a gentleman after Roman."

Roman looked up from Neo and glared. "Excuse me, I am a perfect gentleman, ask Ruby!"

Ruby snickered. "Uhhhh… I'm out. Sorry man."

"Betrayed by the child. What next, Neo?"

Neo lifted her white board. _'I get to finish off the ice cream?'_

The conversation slowly dulled into the background for Ruby, she was more focused on the ice cream than so many people. Neptune was flirting with Weiss, and Sun was apparently really hitting it off with both Yang and Blake. Cool guys, she supposed.

Darn. The ice cream was gone. She wiggled out of the over crowded bench to throw away the napkins and cone paper. There was no need for that paper, everyone ate the cone anyway! She skipped over and threw them into the trash can, a perfect shot.

"Good job! I say that is ten out of ten!"

Ruby turned to the voice and ended up nearly bumping right into another girl. "Oh! Wow! Hi, you're right there."

"Yes. Yes I was." The girl smiled brightly, and Ruby realized that smile was immediately contagious.

She was only a little taller than Ruby, with orange hair in a pretty pink bow and the most startling bright green eyes. She waved. "Salutations! My name is Penny. What is your name?"

"Uh, Ruby." Wow, and people said Ruby was happy. "Are you here to get ice cream?"

"Oh, yes I am!" Penny grinned again before looking at the board. "I'm not sure what to get though…"

Ruby glanced over the board again as well. "Well, chocolate marshmallow is always pretty great."

Penny wrinkled her nose. "I'm not sure if I will like that very much. No, I don't think so, thank you for helping me though. I think I will just get vanilla. I like vanilla."

She was a little weird, wasn't she? Ruby didn't mind though. "No problem, friend. I'm gonna go back to my sister now, I hope you enjoy your ice cream."

Ruby slipped away real quick and back to the group. Weiss glanced up. "Who was that?"

The girl shrugged. "I dunno, she was nice though."

Roman glanced up and surprise crossed his face. "Uh, Red?"

"What?"

Roman pointed right behind her.

Aaaand there was Penny again! Ruby nearly jumped out of her skin, while Penny seemed to be only focused on one thing. "Did you call me friend?"

"Uhhhhhhh…" _Ruby. exe has stopped working._

Roman starting snickering quietly when he stopped as apparently he got kicked. Considering it was Yang glaring, you could guess the culprit. "Ow! Gee, that was overkill…"

Ruby managed to boot her brain back online and she smiled. "Sure, yeah?"

Penny looked truly pleased. "People don't call me friend! Are these your other friends? Why is he in pain?" She pointed at Roman, who just smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, that's Roman. I think he just stuck his foot in his mouth again." It wasn't uncommon. "We all play a game together, it's called _Remnant_? It's how we all know each other."

"Fantastic!" Penny looked back up at the counter, where someone was waving frantically to get her attention. "Oh, I must go, after I pick up my ice cream my father wants me home. Goodbye, friend Ruby!" She waved before she skipped away.

Roman started snickering again and this time was kicked by Cinder. "Ow! Jesus! What the fu-"

Another kick. Neo was the culprit this time, judging by the fact she also stole the ice cream away. Romans started to sulk. "Can't cuss, can't poke fun at weird little girls-"

Roman had to draw his legs back to avoid getting kicked by three feet this time. "Okay, okay, I'll be good!"

Ruby sat back down, watching Penny's bright pink bow vanish down the sidewalk. "I dunno. I thought she was actually kinda fun."

Too bad she'd never see her again.

* * *

"You miss me, Cinder?"

"As much as I miss a headache."

Sun spread his arms out. "She didn't say migraine this time, you hear that? I've improved!"

Blake managed to smile. "It's because Roman's the migraine." Although Roman wasn't in earshot, clearly Neo was, as she poked her head from the kitchen to glare.

Cinder walked in and looked at her phone again. "We have one more person saying they're interested in joining, I tried to tell them we're in the middle of a campaign but they insisted. That means we're not starting early tonight."

"Awwww!" Yang flopped over the table. "So excited to see the Vytal Festival though."

Weiss glanced at her phone. "It's 5:59, it's close enough, isn't it-"

Several well timed taps on the door the moment the clock flipped over to six. "Right on time. If only that could happen every night." Cinder sighed and got up, walking to the door. A very familiar voice came in from the front door.

"Salutations, Miss Cinder! I am here on time, with my character sheets. Is this the right address?"

Yang chose a bad time to take a swig of her root beer as she ended up squirting it out her nose. "Is that who I think-"

A surprised Cinder walked in with Penny trailing behind, the cheery girl getting even cheerier when seeing Ruby. "Hello, Ruby!"

"Penny! Wow! How… how did you find my game night?" Ruby was floored. Not saying she didn't like Penny, but this was a little shocking, to say the least.

Penny cocked her head to the side. "Miss Cinder places it on the Remnant website. I read all the rules, and the game seemed so much fun! Here, Miss Cinder, my character sheets!" She produced crisp sheets from her bag. Cinder took them and glanced them over, changing from flabbergasted to actually quite interested.

She handed them back. "Interesting… who helped you make them?"

"Oh, no one helped me, Miss Cinder. Once you find out the rules, it's actually quite simple to make a character sheet! I also read that I should read out some character details before the game starts?"

Cinder nodded. "You came prepared. Well?"

Penny cleared her throat.

"My character is Penny Polendina! Her weapon is multiple swords controlled by nearly invisible strings. She loves others but knows they do not always understand her. Her weakness is her lack of human interaction, and her secret?" Penny looked so proud of this part. "She's an _android_!" She looked around the room, looking for reactions.

Ruby couldn't hide hers- she squealed a bit and bounced up and down in her chair. "An android character?! So! Cool! I didn't know that was even an option!"

"It is with the new version from six months ago, like faunus and human. I made sure." Penny beamed with pride.

Cinder seemed to think for a little bit. "All right, I'll give you the cue as for a good time to hop into the campaign, Penny, all right?"

"That sounds perfect to me."

* * *

 _"Do you… wanna get up?"_

 _"Yes! My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you!"_

* * *

 **MY ROBOT DAUGHTER! *SOBS LOUDLY* I'm sorry just... so many emotions. Have any RWBY characters made you guys react with the fangirl/boy/nonbinary squees? Let me know when you leave a comment! Bye for now!**


	5. Where Is Everyone?

"Ohmygod _get off_!"

"Gee, Neo, I think I'm sitting on someone."

"Get your stupid butt off me, I can't breathe!"

Ruby was squirming underneath Roman, who had decided to flop across her while she was having a nice time with Neo. Not that the other girl was much help- she was just sitting there with a small grin.

Finally, Ruby managed to shove Roman off, who fell onto the floor with uncontrollable laughter. "Oh, hi Red! Didn't see you there! How are you this lovely night?"

Ruby took several deep breaths, Roman was _heavy_. She glared down at the floor. "You big jerk. You're _lucky_ Yang isn't here yet."

"Why do you think I _tried_ it, Red?"

Snorting, Ruby gave him a kick to the ribs. "You're a jerk."

Roman giggled before he hopped back up and onto a seat that wasn't occupied, throwing an arm around Neo. "You love me anyway. What's up, ladies?"

Neo lifted up her whiteboard. _'Sign language lesson. She's picking up very well.'_

"Nice. Well, anyone want pizza? I got coupons."

Neo put up both thumbs. Ruby pumped both fists into the air. "All right!"

* * *

"Soooo, where is everyone? I thought last week's game went really well, even if I had to bail for half of it."

Mmmm, the gooey cheese, the hot sauce, the perfect crust, and the right amount of pepperoni. Ruby was in heaven. After she swallowed, Ruby thought for a bit.

"Cinder said she had to rework some plotlines, Neptune wants to hop in and I might've ran us off track. Yang said she'd meet me here-" Ruby got cut off as her phone pinged. She fished it from her hoodie pocket. "Oooon second thought- Yang and Blake are going to catch a movie! So it's just us tonight."

"Gaaaaaaaaaaay."

Neo whacked her boyfriend's shoulder, giving him an annoyed look. Roman yelped and grabbed his arm. "What, I meant it in the gay-gay way, not the bad-gay way! Does your sis even float that way, Red?"

Ruby snorted. "Uh, did you miss the time she wore her pansexual tanktop to a game night?"

Neo lowered her pizza and signed so quickly Ruby couldn't keep up, but Roman understood. "Oh, right, wasn't there. What about Blake though?"

Now that was a question Ruby couldn't answer, so she just shrugged. "Noooo idea."

* * *

"That… was a little…"

"A little _awesome_?! That was fantastic! And hilarious! And there were _lasers_ , you can't hate lasers."

"It was called _Lazer Team_. Lasers were expected."

Yang snickered as she balled up the popcorn bag and threw it into the nearby trashcan like a basketball. "Thanks for coming to see this with me- Dad would've flipped if he knew I'd gone with Ruby. All the dick jokes, he still thinks Ruby's his 'good little girl'."

Blake raised an eyebrow, pulling out the final liquorice stick from her snacks and taking a bite. "He's aware she's playing a game with college students, right?"

"I just let him live in his fantasy that they don't act their age around her."

Blake chuckled, shivering a little as they walked into the parking lot. Yang didn't miss that. "Cold?"

"A little. It's fine though, we're almost to your-"

Yang took off her jacket and draped it over Blake's shoulders. "The car takes too long to heat up anyway."

Blake felt her cheeks grow a little warmer, but she let a smile escape onto her face. "Thanks, Yang."

"Don't worry about it. We're totally going to see _Lazer Team 2_ together though."

"… Is there a _sequel_?"

* * *

Neo had now taken out her whiteboard. Taking a sip from her hot pink drink that Roman had mixed for her, she lifted up the whiteboard.

 _'They would make a good couple. I'm on Team Yang/Blake.'_

Ruby giggled while Roman shook his head. "So they're going to happen- what about Pyrrha and the boy klutz? What's their plans tonight?"

"Jaune? I think they're doing more work on his backstory." He wanted to make it perfect and Pyrrha was the best person for that.

Roman snickered before taking a swig of his ridiculously orange drink. "Sure they haven't gotten distracted?"

"Er, with what?"

* * *

"Aha! I won!"

Pyrrha did a little dance in front of the claw machine, overjoyed that she'd managed to get her prize. Jaune shook his head, in complete shock.

"The quarters I've spent. The hours I've spent at this arcade. And you get the Tuxedo Bear. On the first shot."

The redhaired girl fetched the adorable teddy bear in the white tuxedo from the door, lifting it up. "You collect these things, right? They're very cute."

Jaune laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "Eheheh, casually? If you can call having forty eight teddy bears 'casual'."

Pyrrha looked mildly surprised before she smiled, offering the Tuxedo Bear to Jaune. "Here, Jaune. Your collection is now forty nine."

Jaune gasped before he took the bear. Dammit he wasn't blushing. He was definitely not blushing. "Wow, Pyrrha, thanks. Thanks a lot! Hey, if I give you a few more quarters, think we could make it an even fifty and go for the Fairy Bear in the right corner, there?"

Pyrrha snorted before uncontrollably giggling. "One try. Then I want to try that dance game with you."

"Oh, you did not just challenge _me_ to Dance Dance Revolution. Prepare to be amazed!"

The whole arcade got to be treated to Pyrrha's wonderful laughter.

* * *

 _'She's totally in love with him. Which is odd- he's completely out of her league.'_

"I think I heard Yang say you were out of Roman's league too, buuuut maybe I heard her wrong." Ruby grinned as she sipped her Sprite, watching Roman sputter.

"I- hey! I am _definitely_ in Neo's league!"

Neo erased the board as she seemed to contemplate the accuracy of this statement. Roman ended up just taking another slice of pizza, holding it up in the air. "So, they're making out somewhere- what about motormouth and her silent boyfriend?"

Ruby nearly choked on her breadstick laughing. "Nora and Ren? She says they aren't dating."

"Riiiiiiiiiiiight. I'm not buyin' it. Neo?"

Neo lifted up her whiteboard again.

 _'They said they had to practice for their martial arts meet.'_

"… Short, pink, and never-shuts-the-fuck-up knows how to kick my ass?" Roman looked impressed. "That'll probably turn into making out too. _Everyone_ is making out tonight, face it."

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Ummm… Roman?"

* * *

"Hah! I win again!"

Nora did a dance in place as Ren picked himself off the mat, taking a deep breath. "Good job. Think we'll win the next meet?"

"I got a _plan_ to make sure we'll win!" Nora grabbed her Gatorade bottle and took a swig. "We'll switch out their bottles with your puke juice! They'll be so sick, they won't be able to compete and we'll win! Plus we can enjoy the enemy's misery."

Ren gave Nora a long look. "… I'm not wasting my perfectly good health mixes on the competitors next week."

"They'll be healthier if they _don't_ drink it." Nora pulled a face before she sighed and headed over to the bag. "I'm totally done tonight, wooh! We worked really hard tonight, Ren, we're going to show the world who's boss tomorrow! I got a question though." Ren didn't need to respond.

"Can we wear our matching ace bands to the meet next week? On our arms. It'll be a good luck charm."

Ren looked a bit surprised before he nodded. "I think we can do that."

"Yippee! And Ren?" Nora skipped back to him before standing on tiptoe and tapping him on the nose. "Boop!" With a giggle, she skipped into the girl's room to get back into her street clothes.

It was nice, having someone who understood how you felt.

* * *

"… I'm really confused, is that really a thing? OW!"

Roman gritted his teeth in pain, gripping his knee under the table while Neo innocently finished off her drink. "Sorry. They're _both_ asexual though?"

"Nora has an ace pin on her purse. I asked her about it. They're all open for the romance department though." Ruby wasn't that surprised- all Nora cared about was kicking butt and anything sweet.

Neo scribbled on her board. _'So they're NOT making out tonight. Everyone is either making out or not making out, there is no inbetween. Who would you be with tonight, Ruby?'_

That smile was too innocent. Ruby spoke without thinking at first. "Well, since Yang's hanging out with Blake, I'd probably be hanging out with Penny- not like that! There… there would be _noooo_ making out!"

Roman mockingly 'aww'd' while Ruby went as scarlet as her namesake. "I'm serious! Penny's… just a friend! She's just a _friend_!"

* * *

"How are you enjoying your Remnant game?"

"Oh, I love it, father!"

Penny looked up from her character sheet, beaming proudly. "I have a friend now! Her name is Ruby Rose. She likes chocolate and marshmallow ice cream. And she's very sweet."

"I see." Her father just walked away after that. Penny shook her head before she flipped to the pictures she had drawn. She was working on something very important.

Everyone had such amazing characters, and Penny remembered each and every description. Ruby Rose. She was such a powerful character. P.E.N.N.Y. might've been created to help save the world, but Ruby's character was the one that _would_.

She remembered Ruby telling her about earlier in the campaign that she'd killed a giant Nevermore. It was such a powerful mental image, the image of Ruby Rose at the top of a cliff, rose petals swirling about while her cloak flapped in the wind… and she was almost done with it.

Penny lifted it into the air. Her friend Ruby was going to _love_ this.

* * *

"Penny and Ruby, sitting in a tree, K-I- OW!"

Ruby had successfully kicked Roman in the knee. Neo looked so proud. Roman grimaced before he huffed. "So, that leaves everyone but-"

Knocks on the door. Ruby got up and answered the door.

"Weiss?"

Weiss cleared her throat. "Ruby. Hello. Um… my father's being a little… unpleasant tonight. I'd like to stay here for a few hours, if that's all right with the people who live here."

That was weird, but Ruby decided questions weren't appropriate. "Sure, you can stay at my house tonight if you need to!"

"I don't think that's necessary, but thanks, anyway."

Roman raised an eyebrow as Ruby walked in with Weiss but Neo discreetly pinched his thigh. He drew in a sharp breath before he pushed the pizza box over to Weiss. "We have a slice left, if you're hungry. We're talking about what everyone's doing tonight and who's making out with who."

Weiss raised an eyebrow before she stole the last slice. "Why is _that_ interesting?"

 _'Because it is. Plus, all the couples are adorable.'_ Neo lowered the white board and got up to fetch more alcohol from the fridge.

The white haired girl just shook her head. "Ruby, you're surrounded by bad influences. Ignore them. Where's Cinder tonight?"

"Upstairs. Working out campaign plans." Roman pushed the last breadstick towards Ruby, who fist pumped and tore into it.

Weiss looked confused. "Then why isn't her car in the driveway?"

* * *

Cinder was at the train station, that's why. Looking at pictures in her phone. The girl glanced up on occasion, watching people get off the train.

Where _were_ those two? They said they'd come in tonight. Maybe they missed the train. Again.

Any fears she had were relieved when a head of green hair came into sight. "Emerald?"

The girl looked over and lit up. "Cinder!" She ran over and wrapped her arms around her old friend. "We made it."

"Mercury? Did it work?"

Emerald just grinned and pointed behind her. There was Mercury, striding up, gray spiky hair and casual smirk. It was like the accident hadn't happened. He pulled behind him both his and Emerald's suitcases. "Cinder, where's the giant card you should be holding in front of you? The balloons? The party to invite us to our new home?"

"You're lucky I'm not making you get a _taxi_ to the house, Mercury." Cinder sighed before looking down. "Well? How are they?"

Mercury beamed before he lifted up his pant leg to reveal the shiny metal of his new legs. "It's like they were never gone. Docs say in a month I'll be running like old times."

"Then I expect you'll be running a week sooner than planned." Cinder beckoned them both on. "Hope you don't mind, Roman's housing with me too."

"Uggghhhh!" Mercury overdramatically groaned, dropping to his knees. "I have come so far, only to be trapped with the bastard of bastards, the orange haired dick, the-"

"If you don't get up, we're leaving you behind, Merc." Emerald deadpanned, following their old friend.

Mercury huffed before stumbling to his feet, almost losing his balance but managing to keep up. "You're no fun today."

* * *

 **Enter Mercury and Emerald!**

 **Okay we have Arkos, Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream, and Renora... and no one can stop me from going Bumbleby on all of you. The ships won't ever be the main view though, I'll have other fanfics for those ships though. Lazer Team 2 is a joke that my dad and I have, I convinced him to take me to Lazer Team and occasionally he'll ask if there will be a sequel soon, pretending that he's not interested... but he is. And it's great. Question of the day, have you seen Lazer Team? Lemme know when you're a dear and leave a comment! Byyye!**


	6. The Duo

"Oh crap! I gotta run!"

Sun stood up, nearly banging his knees on the table. Cinder looked over with a mix of confusion and amusement. "I guess I can have your character make an exit… is there a reason for this rush?"

The blond was pulling back on his shoes. "Stupid- made a promise to Scarlet I'd see if his blind date was a dick. Shit, I'm going to be late, Neptune, either I'm hotwiring your car or you're driving me!"

"Dude!" Neptune threw up his hands. "You are not hotwiring my car again!" He flashed an apologetic look at Weiss, their characters were really starting to hit it off. "It's not a battle scene, guess I'll be out the door before he actually does it. See you in a week or two?"

Cinder waved them off. "Fine, fine. Better hurry, Sun's already out the door."

"DON'T HOTWIRE MY CAR!"

Ruby was nearly falling out of her chair with giggles. Team JNPR had already left five or so minutes before, Nora and Ren had another competition. Neptune just took off, Ruby could see his shadow against the wall- wait a sec, who was that? Roman was in his room studying, he was the only other guy in the house, right?

"Whoa, did I miss the a party?"

Not Roman. The guy sauntered in with an aura of smugness, smoothing back his spiky gray hair. Cinder glanced up. "You're early." She remarked dryly.

"Emerald's right behind me. Soooo, let me see, if I can guess who's who around this table..." The gray haired boy put his hand to his chin thoughtfully. "… Well, the tiny one with the red hoodie is Yang's baby sister Ruby, right?"

Ruby laughed a little nervously and rubbed the back of her neck. "That's me, yeah."

"One down, four to go. The other tiny girl is probably Weiss."

Weiss looked mildly offended. "Hey!"

"And I'm right, who's shocked. The cutie with the black bow is Blake."

Blake just arched an eyebrow.

"That just leaves you, Goldilocks, you're Yang." He stopped by her chair, looking down. Yang looked up, casually smirking back.

"And judging by your attitude, I think you're Cinder's friend Mercury."

The correctly named Mercury looked impressed. "I think we're gonna get along." He took a seat by her. "Soooo, what's going on right now?"

Ruby brightened up. "We're about to do emotional plot stuff involving Blake!"

"I'll try not to doze off."

* * *

 _"Okay. All in favor of becoming the youngest huntresses to singlehandedly bring down a corrupt organization conspiring against the kingdom of Vale, say aye!"_

 _"YES! I love it when you're feisty."_

 _"Well. I suppose it could be fun."_

 _"None of you said aye..."_

 _"All right then, we're in this together!"_

 _"Let's hatch a plan!"_

 _"Yeah!"_

 _"… I LEFT MY BOARD GAME IN THE LIBRARY!"_

 _"We're doomed."_

Mercury snorted. "You were playing a game, inside a game?"

"It's for roleplay points! Roleplay points!" Ruby insisted.

Cinder sighed. "Ruby just threw that at me. She… tends to throw things a lot."

The gray haired boy smirked. "Ah, the amazing Cinder, best game master of all the world… keeps getting thrown for the loop by a fifteen year old girl."

All Mercury got for that was a glare. "You're _very_ lucky I can't kick you."

"You can _pinch_ me- ow!"

Yang looked up in surprise behind her, to see a green haired girl. "What? He said I could pinch him."

"Not my arm, Emerald…" Mercury rubbed his upper arm with a pout. Emerald glanced around before her eyes landed on Ruby. Wow. Emerald looked cool.

"Soooo, any chance we can get a brief introduction?"

Cinder smirked.

* * *

 _"Oh, sorry. Are you okay?"_

 _"I'm fine. Just. Watch where you're going."_

 _"Oh, right, sorry. I'm Ruby! Are you new?"_

 _"Visiting from Haven, actually."_

 _"Oh, you're here for the Festival! But exchange students have their own dormitory!"_

 _"I guess we just got turned around."_

 _"Don't worry, happens all the time! Your building is juuuuust east of here!'_

 _"Thanks. Maybe we'll see you around."_

 _"Maybe! Oh, welcome to Beacon!"_

"… I can't believe I blew that perception check. So. Badly."

Mercury was shaking with repressed laughter. Cinder shrugged. "All you see is your… average huntress in training."

"You're like, in your twenties! You're _old_! There is _no_ way you pass for a teenager!"

That did it. Mercury fell off his chair with a loud 'clang', roaring with laughter. Emerald lost it then too, burying her face into her arms and giggling. The laughter just filled the entire room, even Blake was shaking her head and chuckling. The only one who kept it together was Cinder, and she had to hide her smirk behind her hand.

Finally, Mercury recovered, wiping some tears off his face and grabbing onto the table to pull himself up. Ruby glanced at him with curiosity. "… Wait- why do you _clang_?"

There was the brief awkwardness that crossed Emerald's face but Mercury just snickered. "Right, here." He rolled up his pant leg, revealing the shiny metal of a prosthetic. "Both legs, knee down. It's why we haven't met yet, I was busy getting used to these babies."

Jeez. That was heavy. Ruby's eyes widened in surprise, but before she could stop herself, she scooted closer and poked one of them. "… Cool."

Dead silence.

"No wait! Not cool that you lost your legs! Cool that… you got really nice… fake legs?"

Mercury lost it again, and the whole room ended up dissolving into laughter once more. Finally, when order had been reestablished (and everyone had refilled their sodas), Mercury and Emerald introduced their characters.

"My character is Mercury Black. His weapon is his boots, his semblance is a secret." He put his finger to his lips in a 'hush' motion. "He's cocky, he's confident, no one can fuck with him. His secret? His dad was a jackass, but it's all good, he killed him anyway. His weakness? He's an asshole, but hey, who cares?"

"My character is Emerald Sustrai. Her weapons are revolvers that transform into sickles, and have an impressive reach with their chains. She acts friendly, but she's… got a darker side. Her semblance is individual mental hallucinations. Her weakness? She might actually be more friendly to the 'good guys' than it seems. Her secret? Her semblance. Oh, also-"

A loud, very irritated shout from upstairs jerked everyone from conversation.

"OKAY, WHERE THE _HELL_ IS MY LIGHTER?"

Emerald snickered before she pulled something out of her pocket- a custom lighter with a jack o' lantern on it. She stuck her tongue out.

"She _might_ also have sticky fingers."

Heavy footsteps sounded down the stairs and Roman poked his head down. "Oh, _joy_ , it's you again. Cinder, I swear to god, if my things constantly go missing again..."

"I give them back! Jeez, he's such a drama king." Emerald flicked off the lighter and threw it up to Roman, who nearly fumbled but managed to catch it.

Ruby gave an understanding nod. "Tell me about it. He stormed out of a game once because Penny kept rolling twenties. Completely. Murdered them all."

"I have to meet this Penny. Maybe some of her mojo would rub off on me."

Yup. Their little 'family' just got bigger and bigger.

* * *

 **Sorry it's been a while! Busy moving in with my boyfriend, didn't have time to update.**

 ***shakes the commissions jar* I like having money and being able to update my fanfictions, so if any of you wouldn't mind either sponsoring a chapter of a story I'm working on ooorrr commissioning me for basically anything, send me a message here or it would be even easier to reach me on my tumblr, imburiedincats-sendhelp. Toodles!**


	7. Pokemon No

**Before I start this, shoutout to the complete fucking asshole who reviewed my OVERWATCH fanfiction to bitch for another chapter of Kinder Roll of Fate! I decided to let it through, so you can all go look at it. :D**

 **And if you're reading this RWBY Fan? A giant fuck you, aimed right your way! Get off my fanfiction account, you twat.**

* * *

Okay, there had to be a reason why no one was here tonight.

Cinder sighed as she leaned back against her chair. Neo and Roman weren't having gross public displays of affection. Ruby wasn't piping up with a response that Cinder hadn't planned for with Weiss wrinkling her nose but going along with it, and Yang eagerly following behind. Jaune wasn't stumbling over his words while his red haired 'girlfriend' helped coax him to the right direction.

Certainly everyone was busy tonight… why though?

"THERE'S A BULBASAUR AROUND HERE!"

"OHMYGOD WHERE?!"

Two sisters were barreling, full speed, around the park. Ruby leaped over a bench, which would've looked amazing, but she ended up running face first into a tree. Yang gracefully leaped over her and got ahead. "Two footsteps! We're going the right way!"

"No fair!" Spitting out grass, Ruby scrambled back to her feet and kept on running, but now Yang had the head start.

Yang finally came to a near stop when she frowned. "Wait- it's gone! Oh come on! I was getting closer! Where the h-"

Someone cleared their throat and Yang looked up.

Mercury waved around his phone. "Looking for something? I think I'm gonna name it Blondie."

Oh, curse him! Yang stopped her foot and glowered angrily. "You…. You…"

"Oh, did you get it, Mercury? Nice job!" Ruby had finally caught up, a few pieces of bark in her bangs but grinning wildly.

Mercury spread out his arms. "Hey, all in a day's work. Who's your starter?"

"Pfff, isn't it obvious?" Ruby spun around her phone. "Charmander! I need to get like one more of him before I can evolve him though."

Mercury nodded and glanced over at Yang, who just crossed her arms smugly. "I chose Squirtle. Duh."

"Same." Mercury glanced at his phone again. "According to the radar there's a Growlithe nearby-"

"IT'S MINE!" Yang was gone in a blink of an eye while Ruby just stared at the empty space where her older sister used to be.

Mercury raised an eyebrow and looked back at Ruby. "… Her favorite?" He guessed.

Ruby nodded. "Her favorite's Arcanine, but she needs to get the candies."

"Ah… so I _shouldn't_ try to snipe it from her."

"Probably not, no."

Roman crossed his legs as he sat back on the park bench, healing up his Pokemon. He'd attempted to take the nearby gym for Valor, alas, it was not a success. Stupid Snorlax. Ruining his chance of capturing the gym.

A soft voice cleared their voice and Roman looked up.

Neo lifted up her phone proudly to show that her Venusaur had been stationed at a gym. Roman blinked before he lit up.

"You didn't."

She pocketed the phone and signed, _'I did. The gym is now ours.'_

"God, you're sexy right now."

"NOOOOO! Valor took our gym again! And their Venusaur is really strong…"

Jaune fell to his knees in utter despair, after all those revives spent, all those potions used… it was for naught.

Pyrrha slowly pat his shoulder. "It's okay, Jaune, umm, we can take it back? All together?"

"Speak for yourself!" Nora smacked her phone in irritation. "I'm out of revives! And the only Pokestop around here is _glitching out_! Again! Ugh, why do I play this gaaaame…"

Ren slowly reached to pat her shoulder sympathetically before she suddenly gasped and brightened up. "Ohmygod it's freaking Jigglypuff. MINE!" She clicked it and Ren stepped away, shaking his head.

Ah. At least she was easily distracted.

Ah. Milkshake break.

Ruby happily slurped her chocolate milkshake as Yang took advantage of a nearby outlet to charge her phone. Thankfully the store owner didn't mind the new Poke craze, in fact, they welcomed Pokemon Goers coming in for a good ole milkshake. "Mmm, think everyone's out playing Pokemon Go right now?" Ruby asked her older sister.

Yang shrugged. "Probably. Where's Emerald, Merc?"

"I thiiink she's currently on the other side of the city chasing down Gastly. They apparently swarm around there." Mercury tossed a fry in the air and caught it in his mouth. "Everyone else out today too?"

Ruby bobbed her head up and down excitedly. "Yup! Jaune and the rest are Team Instinct, while me, sis and Blake and Weiss are all team Mystic! I kinda wanted to be Valor cuz my favorite color's red."

"Really, couldn't guess," Mercury deadpanned.

Ruby stole one of his fries out of spite and stuck her tongue out. "Haha. But I wanted to be with my team."

Mercury gave her a thumbs up before stealing a sip of her milkshake.

Cinder finally looked up as a bunch of young adults tromped into her house. "Well. Wondered when you guys would be here."

Jaune flopped across the nearest couch, being forcefully nudged so he ended up spreading across the rest of Team JNPR's laps. "So hot… please tell me there more than alcohol here."

Cinder snorted and set down her laptop. "Water bottles are in the fridge."

"You best get them all out." Pyrrha wiped her damp forehead. "We're all coming in here, I suppose."

Deciding to ask the cause later, Cinder went to the kitchen and pulled out the water bottles. When she returned to the living room, all of her 'friends' were draped across various furniture and the floor. It seemed Neo and Ruby had settled to nap next to each other on the carpet while Blake had taken the armchair, her bow crooked. Yang was practically sitting in her lap. Weiss had taken a beanbag, clearly from Mercury as the gray haired boy was now pouting.

"Is there a _reason_ you're all invading my house at this moment?" Cinder asked as she began to pass around the water bottles.

Roman took one and chugged half of it before speaking. "Server's are down. And apparently the high today was ninety five degrees."

"Ugh. I'm dead." Jaune just pressed his water bottle against his forehead and groaned. Pyrrha sympathetically pet his hair. "So many Rattata. So many Pidgey. I just need one more Eevee. One more! I want Jolteooon..."

Right. Pokemon Go. Of course. Cinder pulled out her phone and waited for a few seconds. "… Oh. Think the servers are back up… and I think that silhouette is a Blastoise..."

It was like she was alone in her house again. In ten seconds it was completely bare of people. Even the 'napping' Neo and Ruby were gone. Cinder sighed before slipping on some walking shoes.

Well, let's see if she could find that Blastoise then.

* * *

 **Dunno when I'll update this again, this is not one of my regular fics. And it's REALLY hard to get in the mood when there's people acting like selfish babies. Bye for now.**


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